Cover for magazines and the like



I Feb. 5 1924.

1,482,928 F. HUTTER COVER FOR MAGAZINES AND THE LIKE Filed June 23, 1920 u I I [If/ ROE s MAGAZINE g emur s 5 5 J JULY 1920 "Hf 4 15 Gents Fig.2; 0 f NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBER I g -ga I. If you wish To change your add ass f shown in fhe adjoining space,g' e u.s{ 1 I 0f Ieasr six weeks nofice,usin rh|s l coupon for mhe' purpos e. l I o 2.The expiration dare [5 also shown: I I I I In The adjoining space Be sure To I I l ll send us your renewal ar leas+ a I Q2 I monfh ahead ofrhar dafe by cuf-l i I la 6' [IE1 I u, I Tmg om and manlmg us fins coupon a: I I I I 3. Onfhelasrcopy due wilra earq {1 I v I nofice5uBscRiPnoN EXPIRES". Don'fwmf HQ 1 I l I bufsemj your renewal a monrh in advance: i I I i Ofherwrse you may miss one number. 1 :gWH NOTICE TO may suBscmBERs :ll I i "I 2 4.11 you are n01 a regular subscri-[E -14 1 1 1 L ber, wrhe your name ahd address on fhe adjoining blank space and send r0 us wifh $1.50 for a gear subscriprion.

FRH Z-HUTTER ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 5, i924.

.UbllTEl STATES eATENT or'rics.

rnanz HUTTER, or NEW YORK, n. Y, AssIenon ro THE MCCALL COMPANY, A conrone'rron on NEW 55031;.

COVER FOR MAGAZINES AND THE LIKE.

Application filed June 23, 1920. Serial No. 390,990.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANZ Hu'r'rnn, formerly a subject of the Emperor of Austria-Hu'ngary, having declared my intention of becoming a citizen of the United States, residing in the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Covers for Magazines and the like, of which the following is a specification.

My invention aims to provide a cover or outside sheet for magazines, periodicals, circulars and similar printed matters sent at intervals to subscribers whereby certain serious disadvantages in the distribution thereof are eliminated.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the application of the invention to the front cover of a monthly magazine; Fig. 1' being a view of the upper part of a sheet, and Fig. 2 an enlarged view of the upper right hand corner of the same sheet.

Great difliculty is experienced by publishers in getting prompt information from subscribers of changes of their address and of renewals of their subscriptions, generally through the failure of the; subscribers to give the proper notices in due time. The result is that publishers of magazines of large circulation, have practically every month to send out extra copies which subscribers have failed to receive through such neglect. The publisher is put to extra expense and the subscriber is sometimes dissatisfied at not receiving his copies promptly. Various expedients have been adopted to call the subscribers attention to the date of expiration of his subscription and to the need of promp'tnesfs on his part in renewing it. My invention provides an arrangement whereby a direct personal appeal is made to the subscriber by or in close association with his individual name, which arrangement may be utilized for any or all of a number of dilferent sorts of notice or appeal to the subscriber, and may also be used as a conspicuous coupon'to be used by the subscriber in various ways. By this arrangement the address or the space provided therefor is made to serve additional functions besides that of ensuring the correct delivery of the magazines, and these additional functions are of great value in maintaining andincreasing circulation of the magazine and in saving incidental expenses, as hereinafter referred to in detail.

Referring to the case illustrated, the cover is printed with a distinct, conspicuous, blank space along the right hand edge entirely outside of the usual printed matter, and this space is balanced by a similar one on the left hand side, both being near the upper edge.

1 have assumed that the main part of the cover is printed in colors or on a colored field A with a margin B of white around it, in which case the corner spaces C and D may be white and merged in the margin. The space C may be utilized for advertising one or more special features and is located so as to make such advertisement conspicuous, and also to balance the space D and make an attractive and symmetrical cover. For example, in the space C we may print Vincente Blasco Ibanez, A Shot in the Night, see page 6.

The space D is shown on an enlarged scale in Fig. 2. 'On the right of it, is a space E which will be left blank, the balance of the cover being printed uniformly for all copies. The balance of the space D is indicated at F and the matter printed therein is the same for all copies. is preferably enclosed within a line as indicated so that it may be cut oif and used as a coupon for a purpose hereinafter stated. The space E may also be outlined as indicated in dotted lines, but it is not'essential either that the whole space D or the smaller space E b outlined. And, though I consider it important for the best results that the spacesE and'F be directly adjoined to each other, yet this isnot essentialas long as they are in such near relation that the subscriber, his eye caught by his name printed usually in stencil or other distinctive type and on a conspicuous blank space, will also see the notice directed to him and referring particularly to the address.

Within the space E three smaller spaces are indicated. These may be of various arrangements and dimensions. The space G will contain the subscribers name and address. As for example, Richard Roe, 100 Broadway, New York City. The space H will contain the date of expiration of his subscription as for example, July 1920, meaning that the July 1920 number of the magazine is the last one which he is en- The entire space D fied below.

titled to. The third space J is left for a special expiration notice. An address and date of expiration will be stencilled or otherwise printed on each number. The exired notice however will be rinted onl The space F may be used for various appeals to the purchaser and in the case of a subscriber becomes practically a personal letter addressed to him. I have shown on the drawing a notice covering our particular points, but the number may be increased or decreased and the character oi the matters covered may be varied according to circumstances and the publishers preference.

The first notice relates to the address of the subscriber and warns him to give sufficient notice of any desired change. Failure of such notice from a subscriber is a frequent cause of expense and loss to the pub lisher and annoyance to the subscriber. And the use of this direct personal appeal will greatly diminish such expense and annoyance.

The second notice calls attention to the expiration date also printed in the adjoining space and thus gives the subscriber each month a direct personal warning of the length of time which his subscription has still to run. This direct personal appeal will also save considerable expense and annoyance and will help materially to increase the number of subscribers who renew their subscription, which is of the utmost importance. 1

The third notice indicates the fact that this is the last copy which the subscriber will receive unless he renews. In connection with this, the expired notice J is stamped or printed in the adjoining space. This may comprise, for example, the words Subscription Expired, or a mark in distinctive color, or any other conspicuous direction. The warning emphasizes this. Being printed on each copy of the magazine it also serves the subscriber with information that he will get such a notice of expiration unless he renews in time, which is much preferable.

The fourth paragraph of the notice is directed to non-subscribers and is located adj acent to the space E which, in such a case, is a conspicuous blank space, or provided with dotted lines on which the purchaser can write his address. This blank space with the adjacent printed notice serves the purpose of a conspicuous subscription coupon at a point where it can seldom fail to attract the attention of the purchaser; namely, on the cover and preferably on the most conspicuous part the cover, the upper right hand corner. This location is particularly advantageous, not only for a coupon intended for non-subscribers, but also for subscribers use. On the counters of news stands and shops and also on the tables of public and private libraries it is common to stack: magazines with the lower part of each magazine covered by the next one, leaving the upper part exposed; and under these circumstances it is particularly advantageous to arrange the features oi my improvement at the top of the page.

The provisions described are not necessarily limited to the front page of the front cover, although they are particularly advantageous in this location. They may be applied with considerable advantage to the rear page of the back cover or to various outer sheets, wrappers and so forth which are sometimes used in the distributing of magazines and the like; all of: which I include in the term magazine cover.

The severalmotices to be used in connection with the address or coupon may be print- .ed in type similar to that used for the address and of corresponding color so as to make the connection more noticeable. Also the formal title, such as Notice to Subscriber may be omitted and the stencils or other devices used for printing the address may carry also the name of the subscriber, as Dear Mr. Roe in such a position that it will appear at the head of the printed matter which is common to all copies. Also this printed matter may be on lines parallel with the lines of the address instead of at an angle thereto as in the drawing. In fact the user of the invention may arrange the address and the common printed matter in any one of various ways with relation to each other.

The character of the magazine will influence the character of the common printed matter and the use or uses to which the address coupon is put. For example, this coupon, with the subscribers address thereon may be used as a-receipt for subscriptions, to which value may be attached according to various schemes. It may constitute the whole or part of an accident insurance premium, such as magazines have some times offered to subscribers. It may identify the subscriber as entitled to certain privileges announced in the advertising pages of the magazine. And whatever value may be attached to it or whatever use may be made of it will be set forth in the common printed matter which is directed particularly to the individual subscriber.

Some addressing machines print the addresses on separate slips and paste them on the cover. This system may also be used with my invention, merely pasting the slip on the space provided therefor and in proper relation to the common printed matter.

The advantages of the invention are numerous and valuable. The application of the address to the outer page of the cover has been generally regarded as spoiling the beauty or artistic effect of the cover and serving only as an economical way of ensuring correct delivery and as forming a reminder for the publisher alone of the expiration date. By providing a separate independent space for it entirely outside of the rest of the cover is has less effect on the artistic appeal of the latter. By using it practically as the heading of a personal letter to the individual subscriber it has a valuable psychological efiect in attaching him to the magazine. And by combining it with the common printed matter it is made to serve one or more of a number of new functions and to provide a thing of utility to the subscriber and of great value to the publisher instead of a mere disfigurement. It reduces to the simplest possible operation the subscribers work in changing or correcting his address, renewing the subscription, sending in a new subscription or identifying himselfas a subscriber.

Though I have described with great particularity of detail a certain specific embodiment of my invention, yet it is not to be understood that the invention is re.- stricted to the particular form shown. Various modifications thereof in detail and in the arrangement of the parts may be made by those skilled in the art without departure from the invention as defined in th following claims.

What I claim is:

1. A magazine cover having a delineated portion adapted to be used as an order for subscription and showing on its outer face an indicated space distinct from and entirely outside of the remainder of the cover, the said indicated space adapted to carry the address of the individual subscribers and an adjoining space carrying a notice common to all copies and directing the attention of the purchaser to the use to which said delineated portion may be put.

2. A magazine cover having a delineated portion adapted to be used as an order for subscription and showing on its outer face an indicated space for the name and address and date of expiration of subscription for individual subscribers and an adjoining space carrying a printed notice directed to the said subscriber and calling his attention to the date on which his subscription will expire and to the use to which said delineated portion may be put.

A magazine cover having a delineated portion adapted to be used as an order for subscription and showing on its outer face an indicated space for the address of the individual subscribers and for a notice that his subscription has expired and having an adjoining space carrying a printed notice calling his attention to the fact that the last copy of his subscription will contain such a notice of expiration and to the use to which said delineated portion may be put.

4%. A magazine cover having a delineated portion adapted to be used as an order for subscription and showing on its outer face an indicated space adapted to carry the address of the individual subscribers or to be left blank on copies which are sold to non-subscribers and having an adjoining space carrying a printed notice to non-subscribers that the delineated portion of the cover may be used as a coupon for ordering a subscription by writing the subscribers name and address thereon.

5. A magazine cover having on its outer fac an indicated space constituting an address coupon and adapted to carry the name and address of the individual subscribers and an adjoining space carrying a notice common to all copies and directing attention to said address coupon.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name.

FRANZ HUTTER. 

